January 11, 2012 … Learning to Be Humble

Passage of the Day: Chapter/Verse Reference: Job, Chapters 29-31 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Job 29: … [Job, reflecting on his past – desiring to have it back again]
4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,
5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,
6 when my path was drenched with cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.
Job 30: … [Job is a broken man]
14They come at me from all directions. They rush upon me when I am down. 15I live in terror now. They hold me in contempt, and my prosperity has vanished as a cloud before a strong wind.
16“And now my heart is broken. Depression haunts my days. 17My weary nights are filled with pain as though something were relentlessly gnawing at my bones. 18With a strong hand, God grabs my garment. He grips me by the collar of my tunic. 19He has thrown me into the mud. I have become as dust and ashes.
20“I cry to you, O God, but You don’t answer me. I stand before You, and You don’t bother to look. 21You have become cruel toward me. You persecute me with Your great power.
Job 31: … [Job recognizes his position before God]
1 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.
2 For what is our lot from God above, our heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong?
4 Does He not see my ways and count my every step?
- - -
24 “If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’
25 if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained,
26 if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
27 so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,
28 then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.

My Journal for Today: Today’s study in the life of Job from Chapters 29-31 in the Book by his name are Job’s reflections on his life in the midst of the fog of confusion and despair in which he finds himself. And if you want the full force of the lesson God is teaching Job to help him see how pridefulness is easily a fault of those who try so hard to walk the walk of righteousness, these chapters certainly teach us the challenges of having to rely on God to teach us how to be humble.

If you take the time to read through these chapters, as I have today, you will likely – as I have definitely – find Job’s reflections to be very revealing and self convicting. Job here is looking back over his life and reflecting on where he was, longing for the “old days” when he was a respected Elder in his community. And he now sees that he’s totally broken, having lost all respect from the young in his community and culture. And he also sees that past glories, past goodness, and past greatness are not where God desires for our life to be centered.

Job is beginning to get the picture God is painting for him about life, the likely purpose why God has allowed Satan to enter Job’s life and to bring him down to this place in life where Job was forced to look UP at God and see His Lord for Whom He really was/is. And this is dangerous precipice of pride we climb toward when we are walking – as was Job – the walk of Godly pursuits. Job did “have it all.” He was living “the good life;” and he was able to command the respect of everyone around him. But we see that God wanted Job to see his dependence on God and to humbly pursue their relationship rather than to rely on worldly goods or to rely on the respect of other men. God was giving Job a lesson in humility, one which Job apparently was not able to learn on his own; but God was – at this point in Job’s life – the Rabbi Job needed to learn eternally valuable lessons in humility. And in these three chapters, Job comes from reflecting on his past goodness to see that all that he is – or ever was – was in God’s hands.

Oh, how I pray that I can learn this lesson intentionally and with voluntary humility rather that having to be placed in the forge of God’s fire for purification as He molds me into my Savior’s image. It is said – about the Christian – that God will either reward our humility or He will teach us to be humble, like Jesus, by the lessons of trial and fire. Job apparently had to learn this lesson the hard way. I pray I can learn it by my own desires to choose to humbly seek out my relationship with my Lord.

My Prayer Today: Oh, my God, I recognize how dangerous is my prayer for humility. But I humbly pray that I can learn to CHOOSE humility rather than have to walk through the fire – Your fire - to learn the lessons of how to be humble like my Lord. Amen

May 18, 2011 … Reassurance in the Midst of Trials

Passage of the Day: 1st Peter 4: 12 [NIV] … 12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.

1st Pet. 4: 12 – NASB … Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeals among you , which come upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; …

My Journal for Today: I like the way that the NASB version takes the phrase “painful trial,” translated in the NIV above from the Greek; and expands the translation. By referring to “fiery ordeals,” which seemingly tests the believer over a longer period of time, the NASB reference is much more explanatory and fits the historical context more readily. The NASB rendering calls the sufferings being experienced by the 1st century readers as “fiery ordeals … which comes upon you for your testing.” To me this is much clearer than the NIV reference to “painful trials”, especially in the context of the suffering of the Christians in Peter’s day, many of whom were being burned alive by Nero and became pitch-covered human torches for their faith.

This image is much like that of Psalm 66: 10, which states clearly the metaphor of life, at times, being like a “fiery trial,” which burns in our life for a season of time to help refine us …

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 66: 10 … For You, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver.

When you know how precious metals are refined, the word picture and metaphor for life becomes very applicable. The gold/silver ore is melted over a fire; and the dross (i.e., impurities) float to the top where the metal-smith skims off the impurities, leaving the refined, purified gold or silver. When we face the “fires of life,” as did those to whom Peter was addressing, we are purified by these “fiery trials;” and this is the essence of the sanctification process. That’s why belief in the truth of Romans 8: 28 [I hope you’ve memorized that scripture by now!] is severely tested when we are put to the test of fire in our life.

And so we read Peter reminding those in the “fiery trials” of life not to be surprised or dismayed. The Apostle Paul wrote in much the same way about the testing or trials of life in 1st Cor. 10: 13, where he said, “No temptation [also accurately translated “test, trial, or tribulation,” depending on the life circumstances] has seized you except what is common to man.” These Apostles wanted their Christian readers to grasp the expectation that these 1st century believers would suffer for their faith or have “fiery trials” in their lives so that God could purify them into the completeness and purity of Christlikeness.

Tomorrow in the Peter’s next verse (see 1st Peter 4: 13), we will read that these “fiery trials” should actually cause us to “rejoice,” because they are our participation in the sufferings of/for Christ. But I’ve been reading ahead; … more on that tomorrow >>>.

My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to see You in the furnace of life. Amen